A butterfly hovering over blooming lantana. Dove Cottage. The ancients Greeks originally depicted the soul or spirit as a stick figure with wings. Psyche is also the Greek word for both soul and butterfly. The butterfly as a symbol of the human spirit and its potential for transformation originated from that source. The Greek myth of Psyche and Eros (Cupid) is a mythological metaphor for the feminine journey toward consciousness.

MAY 2017

EROS DANCING

A Wednesday in December I saw winged
Eros in a small outpatient clinic
for refugees of mental illness but

Plato saw him first – Did you know that? – yes,
Plato knew about him (the man caught up
in beauty) – Plato wrote that we are all

cosmic remnants of former glories, blind
seers without the vision the winged archer
has, his seeing arrow circling our hearts

of linoleum floors and tables with
Formica tops and dozens of folding
chairs and a long bank of windows heaving

hot shuttered light on the floor where Eros
stands, his ears stuffed with paper napkins and
aluminum foil because the voices

are speaking to him from the microwave,
while a portable radio blares all
Spanish music and one man is leaning

against the wall, snoring, and two people
argue in Creole and a short balding
bulldog man barks, “What is this group about

today?” and I say love and “Love,” I say,
and Eros smiles, nods, hums, and he pulls taut
his bowstring, face rapturous and his wings

drumming, and then I see Eros dancing
to Spanish music while a slack-jawed man
slumbers, and the Creole pair pull out cards

for a hand of bridge and the barking of
the bald bulldog man bleeds through the clinic
room walls and my heart’s eye from dreams awakes,

pierced with the arrow of Eros dancing.

Original publication The Intima Autumn 2014.